Gottlieb, Bernhard

views updated

GOTTLIEB, BERNHARD

GOTTLIEB, BERNHARD (1885–1950), dental scientist. Born in Kuty, Slovakia, Gottlieb trained in Vienna, where he did research in diseases of the teeth, specializing in the cause of caries. He was the first to describe the epithelial tissue which joins the tooth surface to the gum. During World War i he served as a dental surgeon on the Russian-Romanian front. In 1921, he started to lecture at the University of Vienna, and was a pioneer in experimental animal studies which drew the attention of researchers in this field in Europe and the U.S. In 1938, under Nazi rule, Gottlieb was dismissed from his post at the university. With the help of some non-Jewish admirers he was able to leave Austria. Gottlieb was a keen talmudist, and identified with the cause and interests of a Jewish state in Ereẓ Israel. He went to Palestine where he spent two years teaching at the Hebrew University and helped to set up dental clinics. In 1940, Gottlieb emigrated to the United States, where he was visiting professor at the Kellogg Foundation Institute at Ann Arbor, Michigan.

[Jacob Yardeni]